6:04 pm. Andrade BRA UB: Maloney to stalder full to Tkachev, to Pak, lovely. Arches over a handstand after that and comes off. OOF. Van Leeuwen. All Brazil had to do was hit bars. Blind change to piked Jaeger. Toe full, full-in with a step.

Well, she needed a 15.5+ to get bronze for Brazil and a 14.7+ to get fourth and neither of those were going to happen. Still disappointing to see her fall.

6:00 pm. Biles USA FX: Moors, bounced completely OOB. She’s like THIS FLOOR ISN’T HARD ENOUGH FOR ME ANYMORE. Biles to stag, better. Switch to tour jeté full. Front full to stuck full-in. Tbt to when people were like SIMONE BILES WILL SUCK AT FLOOR BECAUSE OF THE FRONT TUMBLING REQUIREMENT. Yeah, okay. Double double to finish, stuck. Fab aside from that first pass. 14.766

5:53 pm. Scheder GER BB: Had a fall, not sure where…flight series maybe? The German press near me screamed lmao. You’re at your job. Please calm down. Just scream in all caps on your live blog like I do but show ZERO ACTUAL EMOTION. Front aerial to side aerial, solid. Chest down on her side somi. Her wiggle choreo is so funny. Hit the dismount. 12.366

China upped their vault score by half a point I think compared to prelims.

5:49 pm. De Jesus Dos Santos FRA BB: Fell but I missed the skill. Was apparently slightly off to the side on whatever it was. 😦 It was close to the end. Double tuck was stuck. The rest looked good from what I saw. 12.566

J. Liu CHN VT: Tsuk double, a little rough in the air, not as rough as prelims IIRC. Good enough! 14.366

5:45 pm. Voss GER BB: Bhs loso loso, check. Tour jeté half, nice. Clean side aerial. Front aerial. Full turn. Clean side somi. Sarah Voss hitting beam in a three-up three-up final will make her an automatic team member on every German team until she retires. Hit the dismount. Get it, Sarah! 13.6!!!!!!!!!!

Olsen CAN VT: Cheng, a little low on the landing, hop back.

5:44 pm. Hurd USA FX: Double double went a bit wild on the landing, step back I believe OOB. Solid double layout after though. Front layout to front full is clean. Double pike, low, big step forward to keep from falling. Obviously not what she wanted but she fought through. 12.966

Zhang CHN VT: I missed what she did, tsuk double I think? A little weak but hits it. 14.433

Barbosa BRA UB: Hit her transition up to a release, then another release after that to Pak, I didn’t see the entries on any, byt they were good, bail arched over, then tries a toe-on and her swing goes nuts. Oh god oh god. Takes her a WHILE to get it back. Toe-on to toe shoot. Toe full, blind change to front giant half, double layout. GOD she’s going to be so mad at herself I’m going to cry.

5:37 pm. Mustafina RUS FX: Hit her opening pass. 1.5 to front full, some leg stuff but good landing. Double tuck, chest down, little skid, but nothing bad. Memmel to a spin after that, a little jerky on the Memmel but a hit routine for the queen. 13.066

Griesser GER BB: Hit her flight series, then a clean front aerial, split jump not connected. Break on the side aerial but good fight to stay on. Full turn. Hit the dismount. Beautiful work. 12.066

5:36 pm. So China had a 41.999 on vault in prelims, and Brazil had a 40.832 on bars. That would give Brazil the edge today. I’m going to die. I’M GOING TO DIE.

5:33 pm. THESE STANDINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If Brazil wins a bronze I will die. WITH A FALL. They have France going to beam, too. They really just need to get through bars…

5:28 pm. Simakova RUS BB: Hope she takes the confidence of her two teammates to kill this! Switch ring, back leg not there. Nice triple flight series! The rest after that was good, side aerial is where I caught up again, chest down on the side somi but no wobble, double tuck, almost stuck! What a beam rotation for Russia! 13.166

Bui GER UB: Jaeger to kind of a wild Pak, Maloney to Bhardwaj, some ankle stuff, van Leeuwen, also with the leg form, just not super tight today, toe full right on the bar to piked Gienger, full-in stuck. 14.133

Bossu FRA UB: I missed the very beginning. Caught it from the inbar half to piked Jaeger, big Pak, clean van Leeeuwen, blind change to front giant to double front, stuck cold. Looked much better than prelims just in terms of her confidence in each skill. Much tighter. 14.033

5:23 pm. Biles USA BB: Omg I missed the very beginning but I’m sure you are seeing it on the stream. Hit triple flight series, wobble on switch half, hit back tuck (or pike, I couldn’t see) after it. Punch front pike, HAND DOWN. The whole crowd was like NOOOOOO. She’ll still get like a 15.7. Calm down. Full-in, hop back. 13.733

Alexeeva RUS BB: Loso mount to loso, excellent!! Hit her wolf turns after that. Layout series is great, just a little bobble, then front aerial to a jump. Good jump series. Clean and stuck double full. She is so good for this team.

4:59 pm. T. Liu CHN BB: Front handspring to front tuck, big wobble. Holds on. Good fight. Switch to split ring leap, wobble. Solid switch ring. Couldn’t really see the position in the air from here though. Front aerial to a jump to a Korbut, nice. Full turn. Clean side aerial. Clean double full. Really just that wobble at the beginning, but overall okay.

4:57 pm. Biles USA UB: Weiler half to Maloney to Tkachev, nice. Toe full is short and you can tell it’s a struggle but she covers it up well and doesn’t have the issue she did in prelims. Church to Pak, van Leeuwen is clean ,short handstand before giants to Fabrichnova, perfect in the air, just a hop. 14.866

Hurd USA UB: Komova II to stalder full to Tkachev, nice, Ricna to Pak, super clean on both, Ray to high, slightly short on the handstand before the blind change to front giant, inbar full to full-in, deep with a step, overall solid. 14.433

Olsen CAN BB: Big front aerial, little stumble on her triple flight series but still fine, switch to switch half is solid. Lovely Onodi! Double pike, bounce back. Great start for them. She is a rock. 12.333

Japan breaking 39 on beam with Hatakeda’s iffy routine is big for them, especially with the other teams freaking out. They got the tough one out of the way only half a point down from prelims.

4:34 pm. Black CAN UB: Maloney to Hindorff, good, Shang, hop change to piked Jaeger, solid. Ana Padurariu is screaming for her but facing the other way. I love when gymnasts can’t watch their teammates! Shallon is watching. Pak, van Leeuwen, some form stuff on both but good for her, hit the pirouette and then the toe front half dismount, solid. 13.566

4:31 pm. Liu CHN UB: Chow to Pak, some leg sep, Maloney to Gienger, good. Blind change to Ling to Healy, can’t get the handstand back up. Swings herself around and just does the giants to the double layout. Rough. Didn’t do the Healy 1/2. 13.4.

4:28 pm. So, falls for Canada, Brazil, France, and Russia so far. Kind of putting everyone back on equal ground?

4:27 pm. Padurariu CAN UB: Toe half to piked Jaeger, inbar piked Tkachev to Pak, comes in way too close and pings off onto her back NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Back on for a big clean Pak, Maloney to bail to Ray, blind full, stuck full-in. UGHHHH I’M SAD. 12.866

Hatakeda JPN BB: Punch front tuck, solid, huge back-bending wobble on an acro skill, her flight series I think, but gets it back! Step back on the double pike. 12.366

Hurd USA VT: Very clean, almost stuck, just a little bounce in place! 14.633

4:12 pm. Chen CHN UB: They chalked/unchalked/rechalked the bars for about 14 years. I think they’re finally ready to go. Chow to Pak, some leg sep on the Pak, Maloney to Gienger, a little close, blind change to Ling to piked Jaeger, good, another one-arm pirouette after that, full-in clean with a hop. 14.1

4:10 pm. Vanhille FRA FX: Crashed her double layout right at the start. 😦 Welp. Double tuck with a hop. Hit the last pass. 11.466

Barbosa BRA BB: Loso mount, solid. Nails the layout series. Wobble on her switch half. Good side aerial. Had a little bobble on something after that but a good cover, nothing major. OOF, TOTALLY off on her wolf jump full. Didn’t even come close to landing that on the beam. Double pike with a step back. Damn. 11.466

4:08 pm. I love the Russians and Americans together in the red and blue. And China and Canada together in the red and white.

4:06 pm. I’m going to focus on the top groups, but should be able to get most of the other four as well!

4:05 pm. All athletes have marched in and are beginning the touch warmup! Let’s gooooooo!

It’s so frustrating to watch Padurariu choke during these finals. I feel like Canada really had a chance with the fall from Russia and the multiple falls from China. I suppose I’ll take solace in the fact that she is a little baby angel with an amazing future ahead of her once she gets some more experience AND comes back fully from her injury.

We saw the same thing in Rio…so if you watched Rio AA, it was similar. Lastly, She probably wanted a break, I mean her team only won by 9 points. *Whew, I’m tired, let me just put my hands down for a sec.”

Im both so happy for and proud of but devasted for Canada being less than 2 points away from silver after counting 2 falls 😦 but also what a great showing from the team as a whole and the growth the prgram has had is amazing.

So impressed with Shallon who seems to have not only improved in her gymnastics abilities but her confidence competing as well and really came through as well as Ellie who is always impressive and Sophie who came in clutch when they needed a strong vault score and for a first year senior Ana did so well and showed so much promise

Ellie Black and a Russian (?) gymnast have the same music section in their routines and when the Russian performed on FX, Ellie had finished her vault and turned her head completely surprised and pretended to jump to the floor podium to dance her own routine. This is an absolutely random and useless information but I found it cute. 😍😇
The Russia / USA team pictures at the end with Aliya surrounded by Morgan and Simone was also a nice thing to watch. The Americans were about to have a standard picture with the US flag but it changed into this when Simone and Morgan waved at Angelina and it ended up in a group photo. Nice.
Good job for France, not too far from China actually…

UGH I’m so annoyed that China medaled! They´re weak on floor, mediocre on vault and bars, and only great on beam, where they had two falls! Any of France, Brazil, Canada, or Japan would have a shot at beating them, but they all imploded, UGH!

If WADA did their job and USAG weren’t utterly corrupt and the Chinese had everyone available they would probably challenge for gold. This is the worst worlds I have ever seen. But you just bury your head in the sand and hate on China like this mess is their fault

Umm, I never said this is China´s fault? I love the athletes, and they’re very talented, but I would have liked to see another team upset the big three. And how on EARTH is this worse than Montreal? lol
And no, China would not have challenged for gold. Maybe if they had Cheng Fei, Yao Jinnan, and Yang Yilin they could have, but not with who they have now!

Nope! Not really.
Fan Yilin would add some power on bars, but that would make minimal difference, and Mao Yi could add a DTY and a decent floor routine, but those two aren’t enough to beat the USA for gold. Also, A. Biles never doped?
B. This isn’t even our peak, since Jade Carey isn’t here with us!
China is fantastic, and with hits, they could have beat us on beam, but that’s it. Nobody can really challenge the US….

So without Simone today, USA would’ve (for the sake of conversation) taken Ragan and had Riley (or Grace) do 4 events today and they still would have won by 3+ points. Deal with the following: i) USA has depth that other countries don’t, ii) Simone has a medical exemption of a drug that MAY induce ergogenic response and enhance athletic performance… OH WAIT! Forgot to mention that the ergogenic response is way less likely in someone Simone’s age and given how long she’s taken MPH, those effects would most likely be gone.

They could still win but the pressure on them would be much greater and the opposition would have more to fight for making that 3pts worth much less.

As for Biles, it is not fair that she can train on medications that allow her to train longer and harder than most other gymnasts. She has been doing it for over a decade and that is why she is 10% better than the rest of the planet. Not fair to the opposition, her teammates, nor the spectators.

WADA has let this sport down. There is worldwide rorting of the TUE system. WADA does nothing to prevent it. All they are now is a political weapon.

LOL Russia of all countries going off on Simone taking APPROVED ADHD meds is the funniest thing ever. Literally three years ago Aliya tested positive for a now-banned drug, and uh…HALF THE COUNTRY WAS BANNED FROM THE 2016 AND 2018 OLYMPICS FOR PEDS.

I was pulling for Team Japan tbh. I’ve had such a soft spot for them ever since Rio. It seems this just wasn’t quite their year. That said, I’d rather have them lose out on a team medal at a mid-quad Worlds than at the freaking Tokyo Olympics. I don’t think they’ve hit their peak yet!

No matter what you think there will ALWAYS be a question mark on Simone Biles when talking about the greatest in gymnastics. Not only because of the artistic component, but because of FISHY medical exemptions.

No, there won’t be any question. But seriously, you are CONSTANTLY on here with multiple different usernames slandering Simone and whining about her ADHD medication. Do you have thoughts about all of the other athletes whose medical records were illegally released? Why, pray tell, is HER medical exemption “fishy”? Is it because it is for a mental illness that you can’t see plainly as opposed to a cognitive impairment that also manifests with physical characteristics (like Down Syndrome)? Is it because you just don’t like that this dominant an athlete comes along once a generation? Is it because she’s American? Is it because she’s black?

Seriously, it’s the 21st century – after what happened with China a few quads ago (the government forging passports to make athletes age-eligible) and Russia (the state-sanctioned doping) why bother? There would absolutely be a paper trail of a physician fraudulently claiming she had ADHD – which, by the way, we can lose our license over for a fraudulent diagnosis, for the prescriptions resulting from the diagnosis, etc.

Do some research – Simone has been an exceptionally talented gymnast since she was a very young child. Part of her being so talented has to do with the fact that she engaged in significantly above-average physical activity for almost her entire life and she has openly said she has been medicated for ADHD for a similarly long time.

Why am I telling you this? Because of this study:
Eur J Appl Physiol. 2018 Apr;118(4):777-784 that was JUST published. Not into reading scientific literature? I’ll pull you a direct quote from the conclusions of the paper: “We report that lower levels of physical activity and younger age predict an improved ergogenic response to MPH and that this may be explained by differences in dopaminergic function.”

What does that mean? Age and physical activity play a direct role in just how much MPH (which is Ritalin for the uninitiated) helps the ergogenic response (enhancement of athletic performance). MPH was better at improving ergogenic response in people who i) had lower than average physical activity levels, and ii) are young. Simone (by medical standards) is neither of these. Even IF she was experiencing an ergogenic response BEYOND helping her focus and ‘bringing her to where everyone without ADHD is ALL THE TIME’, this effect would have long worn off, given her age and history with ADHD and meds.

You can have an opinion about not liking Simone’s artistry, or groan about her or anyone else being over- or under-scored, but the constant drivel about her medical condition is ridiculous. I suppose you think her kidney stone is a performance-enhancing medical condition too?

Did it occur to you that perhaps a lot of (not so-called, but actually) great athletes are great because, as young children, they were hyper-energetic so their parents/teachers involved them in sports as an outlet for their energy? So, a lifetime of involvement with a sport and medically appropriate treatment to, and I can’t stress this enough, bring these athletes to a headspace that the “rest of us” enjoy all the time, is what leads to success.

And it’s not fishy – this is part of the major issue with the stigmatization of mental illness in society. It’s also nobody’s business; Simone and any other athlete with a medical exemption is within the bounds of their sport and, more importantly, their medical treatment choices are really none of our concern.

But by all means, take the word of a Russian gymnast, who was undoubtedly phenomenal in her day, but still manages to be bitter about the 2004 All-Around. Remind me when/where she got her medical degree again? Or any education or training that would qualify her to speak in an authoritative manner on the medical treatment of other athletes?